What I’d Do Differently Preparing For Ambleside Online Year 1

Year 1 (first grade) was our first official homeschool year that we began implementing Charlotte Mason’s methods and principles. It was an exciting leap in our homeschool journey and one I will forever look back on and be grateful for. 

While I would say my daughter (6 yrs old at the time) and I genuinely enjoyed AOY1 and learned so much that year, looking back, there are some things I would do differently preparing for Ambleside Online Year 1 again. 

Side note: It had very little to do with the AO curriculum and schedules, but rather me learning (imperfectly) how to implement CM’s methods and principles in our home and school. So before we dive in, give yourself grace in this. That’s the first thing I’d do differently. You’re learning, too.

Consideration #1: Be ready for imperfect, and/or little narration

I thought that narration would come easier than it did and so the first thing I did was doubt the books, and doubt the curriculum. After all, the selections are rich and was nothing like I had been introduced to in 1st grade.

In the end, it was simply because my daughter was learning, and forming a new, and very stretching habit. The habit and art of narration. If I could do it differently, I would have made more room for narration to grow by doing these few things:

• Break up readings by paragraph (or less sometimes) and ask for a narration instead of reading an entire selection first
• Before a lesson, I would mention who or what we’ll be “meeting” in the reading (a person or type of animal), mention the name of the battle or key event that will take place, and ask for her to pay extra attention when she hears those names. I didn’t have to pre-read much for year 1 (though I’d encourage you to try if you’d like!), just a simple skim of the reading selections would give me enough to share the names we’d hear.
• Make a list ahead of time to prompt a deeper narration: “Tell me about so and so” “What do you remember about the battle of so and so?” “Can you tell me 3 things about this animal/geographical location that we read about?”

Bottom line, I would have removed the doubt that the books were “too hard” and patiently cultivated an atmosphere in which my daughter could grow in the art of narration. Trust the process, as otherwise and seasoned AO moms have said. 

Consideration #2: Schedule the literature readings as an audio or Summer read aloud before starting the official school year

Having a softer start to our first year would have been so beneficial for us both. It would have let us dip our toes in the water before diving head in, especially as a first time homeschool mom. A first time homeschool mom desiring to implement a Charlotte Mason approach. A first time homeschool mom desiring to implement a Charlotte Mason approach using Ambleside Online. 

The literature readings would have been more of a delight to slowly read aloud or listen to on audio together over breakfast, or during an afternoon of snacks. I might have even asked a narration question or two and just let it grow to be part of our daily rhythm. 

Then when it was time to start the school year, I’d add in more subjects/readings one or two at a time until we finished. That might have looked like completing Year 1 in 2 years rather than 1 year (or in my case, 1 year was actually only 36 weeks). Maybe even adding just 6-12 more weeks (an extra term) would have helped us ease in steadily. 

Consideration #3: Devour the AO website

Oh, man. If there was any advice I could give a fellow homeschool mom who is interested in AO or has questions, it would be to devour their website. Seriously. Do it for days and days. You’ll still find yourself only scratching the surface of the rich wealth there is to behold. 

While I’ve heard some folks say Ambleside Online’s website is hard to navigate, I often have to challenge that and ask if they’ve even tried to sit down (for more than just a scroll and a click) and learn how to navigate it. 

While it did take some time to learn how to find what I was looking for (schedules, folks, and hymns, nature study topics, etc.) to get going in Year 1, I had no idea about other important places on the AO website that would have saved me so much time and stress:

• An Introduction to Charlotte Mason: While I was already familiar with who Charlotte Mason was, I love the way Anne White breaks it down of who Miss Mason was and an excellent definition of what her educational method is. 
• The FAQ’s Page: I come to this page frequently! Want a PDF copy of their FAQs? They kindly have it available to download as a 27 page PDF! They have it categorized by subject, getting started, FAQ’s about Charlotte Mason, and AO! 
• Site Map: Another favorite page on their website I wish I knew about was the Site Map page. I can’t even describe the plethora of additional, helpful information on this page. Just do yourself a favor and spend some time here. 
• Footnotes: I wasn’t familiar with most of the book selections for year 1 (or really any year for that matter) so the footnotes was a jackpot of gold when I discovered it! There are footnotes for each year which are simply additional notes about the books, subjects and selected resources for the given year. I found this midway through term 2 of year 1 and since then I always print off the footnotes and save in my planning binder for reference. I especially appreciate that they even link to some additional resources. 

If you’re reading this blog article and considering Ambleside Online as your curriculum, I pray this could be an encouragement to your own homeschool. We are all going to have challenges, hiccups, and may even fail miserably at times. Though Ambleside Online is a full and wide Charlotte Mason curriculum, ultimately I know it is there to merely serve our family (and generously for free!) and not be a master that I am bound to. There are things I have had to modify for the sake of our homeschool, and as I’ve stated above, plenty of things I would do differently going into Year 1 again. However, choosing Ambleside Online for Year 1 (and persevering on with it) was something I’d never change. And now I am excitingly preparing for AOY3! What a generous gift.